Zirra Spotlight On Shiftgig

Shiftgig is a marketplace for businesses and talent to offer and shop for gigs or shifts in Food Service, Hospitality, Hotels, Retail, Warehouse and Distribution Centers, Customer Service, Call Centers, and Experiential Marketing companies. Businesses simply post available shift or gigs and individuals who have signed up will be alerted to open positions they are interested in. Individuals need only to sign up with their personal information, a resume, and areas of interest. They then have an in-person interview with Shiftgig to finalize the process, and can begin picking up available shifts. Shiftgig was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Countryside, Illinois. The company has additional offices in Milwaukee, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Memphis, Miami, New York, Phoenix, and Tampa.

Market Forecast & Exit Indicators: According to The Pew Research Center, 8% of Americans have earned money in the last year using digital platforms to take on a job or task. Additionally, the same survey carried out by Pew says that, “42% of respondents [performed gigs] for fun, or because the work gives them something to do in their spare time.” Furthermore, 37% of respondents performed gigs online as a way of helping to fill in gaps or fluctuations in income, while just 19% said they are working at online gigs to gain future job experience. The “gig economy” is seeing rapid growth. PwC, one of the world’s Big Four accounting firms, forecasts that the market will be worth $63 billion by 2020, a significant growth from 2014’s $10 billion valuation of the market. There is no publicly available information on any indicators that Shiftgig is looking for an exit or merger, or preparing for an IPO in the near future.

Competitive Position: Shiftgig.com has received 2.095 million visits to their website in the last 12 months. In December, 2015, SimilarWeb reports that Shiftgig had roughly 400K non-unique visitors to their website. In May, 2016, that number dipped to below 110K, and in November, 2016, Shiftgig got 181K visits to their site. This could have to do with seasonal effects as there is an expected rise in the number of temporary jobs over the holidays, but the decrease in visits to the site might be cause for concern. In comparison, Fiverr, which also posts gigs online, has raised significantly more money, $111M from Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel Partners, and Qumra Capital, among others, has seen 331.7M visits to their website. Some more competitors include Gigbucks, Guru, Crew, and UpWork.

Professional & Customer Reviews: Because the majority of the customers of Shiftgig are temporary workers and individuals looking for shift jobs, there are many reviews on Glassdoor and Indeed about their experiences with the company. From Glassdoor, reviewers have given Shiftgig 3.8 out of 5 stars. On the positive side, reviewers cite, “flexible schedules” and, “great pay.” On the negative side, many reviewers lament the disorganization in the company, and some unprofessionalism, with one reviewer saying, ” They make no effort to foster connection with any of their employees. The support staff often uses scripted answers that don’t answer questions. The communication with specialists is horrible.” From Indeed.com, positive reviews say Shiftgig is a, “Fun startup culture with collaborative thinking. New ideas are always bouncing off the walls. Negative reviews say, “The company’s ambition for growth vastly exceeds its capacity to support its efforts. The promises for deliverables by the CTO to the company’s investors and board members puts a great deal of strain on the development team.” It appears that the reviews are mixed at best, with many people being displeased with Shiftgig for a number of reasons.

Fundamentals: It remains unclear what business model Shiftgig is using to earn revenue. We could not find anything about whether or not the company charges the individual, the business, or both parties, nor is it clear what percentage they take. There is no clear business model in the company’s own terms and conditions. Shiftgig would do well to clear this up, as many complaints from reviewers claim problems with payment, or low wages as their main gripe against the company. It is also unclear how many actual employees Shiftgig has. Their LinkedIn profile suggests 489 employees, however, many of those are part-time workers who are not directly involved in the day-to-day of the company’s operations.

Founder & Executive Profiles: Shiftgig was co-founded by CEO Eddie Lou, Chief Growth Officer Jeff Pieta, and CTO/Chief Data Officer Sean Casey. Mr. Lou is concurrently a Partner at JEL Holdings where he is involved with CloudSight, Espark Learning, and Albert IO. Mr. Lou is also concurrently the Co-Founder, Board Director & Executive Committee Member at One Goal, formerly known as Urban Students Empowered, and has been in that position since 2004. Mr. Pieta was the founder and President of All Information Services, Inc., a technology firm that provides IT staffing, consulting, value-added equipment sales, and cloud services before he left to co-found Shiftgig. He concurrently serves as the Chairman of AIS. Mr. Casey started at AIS with Mr. Pieta, and is still affiliated with the company, as his LinkedIn page claims he is the owner of AIS at this time. Mr. Casey was originally the CTO when Shiftgig was founded, but has switched to the role of Chief Data Officer as of January, 2016.

What is a Spotlight Report

Using Zirra AI and machine learning technology, fused with expert opinion from our 450+ expert network, Spotlight Reports provide insights and analysis on any company you have an interest in. Features include company profiling, key strengths and potential risks, algorithm-generated ratings and predictions, along with added key point commentary covering 5 areas of interest.